Arrest of Iraq "insurgent leader" still unconfirmed

[laststeamtrain]

Source: Reuters

Arrest of Iraq "insurgent leader" still unconfirmed
24 Apr 2009 08:34:53 GMT
Source: Reuters
By Waleed Ibrahim

BAGHDAD, April 24 (Reuters) - Iraqi authorities and the U.S military remained unable on Friday to confirm that a man arrested the previous day was a high-level leader of an al Qaeda-affiliated insurgent group.

The arrest would be a blow to insurgents as Iraq appears to be facing an escalation of violence ahead of a reduction of U.S. forces and a national election. Suicide bombers killed at least 76 people in Baghdad and Diyala province on Thursday.

Some experts say they remain unconvinced that Abu Omar al-Baghdadi actually exists, speculating that he is a fictional character invented by al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI). He is said to be the head of a group called the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

"Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is, I believe, not a real person, but a title given to an Iraqi who acts as an Iraqi figurehead of ISI/AQI so that they can claim that it is led by Iraqis when, almost certainly, it is led by foreign jihadists," said Terry Kelly, a senior researcher at the Rand Corporation think-tank.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LO544181.htm

[dipsydoodle]

1. fictional character

:rofl: Along with numerous others I guess like group names too : it seems the USA used that before Bin Laden which seems odd.

[denem]

2. He is the #2 leader.

The latest in a long line of inexhaustable, interchangeable #2 leaders, apprehended or taken down. My 2c guestimate.